Folding-machine.



W. J. BEATTIE.

FOLDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 15, 1908.

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Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

W. J. BEATTIE.

FOLDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED-176.15, 1908. 97 2,495 Patented Oct. 11,1910.

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972,495. v Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

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Patnted 0ct. 11,1910.

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i mm (5M W. J. BBATTIE. FOLDING MACHINE. APPLICATION I'ILED AUG. 15, 1908.

WALTER JOHN BEATTIE, F COHOES, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

TO THE BEATTIE MANUFACTURING COMPANY OF COHOES.

FOLDING-MACHINE.

Original application filed May 21, 1908, Serial No. 434,132.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 448,664.

, of my invention are to construct a folding machine the infolders of which will be heated and the folding and pressing of the goods will be over the edges of the die, while the die is upon the blank upon the bed plate of the machine. I accomplish these objects by means of mechanism illustrated in the. accompanying drawings in which Figure 1. is a front elevation of my machine. Fig. 2.- is a plan view of the bed and folder-plate.- l lg. 3. is a cross section at X X Fig. 2. Fig. 4-. is an end view with parts broken away. Figs. 5* 6 and 7- are detail views of one of the infolders. Fig. 8. is a plan view of the mechanism operating the infolders. F 1g. 9. is an elevation of the mechanism operating the infolders. llig'. 1().- is a side elevation of the die-head. Fig. 11." is a plan view of the die-head. Fig. 12. is a detailed view of the cam for expanding the die. Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

This application is a division of my application for folding machine, filed May 21, 1008, Serial No. 434,132, and an improvement of the application of George \V. Smith, filed February 14-, 1908, Serial No. 413,315). The reference character l refers to the surface plate or table of the machine. Upon this table the folding-and pressing of the collar and cull" blanks take place. The

inlolders are located upon the top ofthis table and are four in number and are arranged to move inwardly folding the edges of the goods over the die'upon the heated bed-plate of the machine. This top plate or table of the machine has an open center in which the heated bed-plate of the machine is located. The folding and pressing is done upon this heated bedplate, which is vertically movable and the infoldcrs fold the goods over the die upon this bed-plate over the die.

volving disks 3, outside of the center of the disks. There are four movable infolders wlnch are ope 'ated by four cranksQ, Work- 7 ing in suitable bearings on the infolders and imparting the motion of an arc of a circle to them, moving them inwardly toward the die when the die is at rest upon the goods upon the heated bed-plates folding the goods upon all sides over the edges of the die.

The revolving disks 3, are mounted upon shafts'e two of which are located at. the front of the machine and two in the rear; Mounted upon the lower end of one shaft located in the front of the machine is a sprocket wheel 5, while upon the lower end of the other front shaft is a gear wheel 6, meshing with the gear wheel 7, mounted upon a suitable hearing as shown in Fig. 9. Also moimtcd upon the saine bearinp' and fixedly attached to said 'gear wheel 7, is a sprocket wheel 8.

t) is a short sprocket chain engaging the sprocket wheel S.

10 is a short sprocket. chain engaging the sprocket wheel 11 is a rod connecting one end of the sprocket chain 5) with one end of the chain 10. l). is a rod attached to the otherend of chain 10 and 13 is a rod attached to the other end of the chain 9. The rods 12 and 13 are connected together at their opposite ends by the clip 1 1, having nuts 15 and 16 by which the tensionof the sprocket chains is regulated. The clip 14 is pivoted to the lever 17 as shown. at Fig. 9, said lever 17 being pivoted to the machine by the bolt 18 and operated by handle 19. Q0 and 21 are two rods connecting, the cranks 2, 2, on the front of-tho machine with crank 2, 2, on the rear of the machine. ranged and adjusted that when the operator raises the handle it), it will move. the clip 14 to the left revolving the shafts l, l, carrying cranks 2, 2, and the front crank 2, 2, will, by means of the connecting rods 20 and 21, revolve the rear crank 2, 2, and the four cranks 2, 2, will move the in foldersflnwardly lVhen the operato releases the handle '15), the spring returns the These parts are so or lever 17 to the original position thus moving the infolders back from over the die.

In order to press the blanks successfully, it is necessary that the bed-plate and the .infolders be thoroughly heated when the pressing takes place.

23 is the heatedbed-plate of the machine. The heated bed-plate may be the top surface of a chamber heated by steam, electricity, or by any suitable means. It is Vertically movable by means of the pedal 24, turning upon the pivot 25, and pushing upward the rod 27, which bears against the bottom of the movable and heated box or chamber, the top of which forms the heated bed-plate 23 and presses it upward. \Vhen the infolders for folding the'goods over the die and the goods are ready to be pressed, power 'is applied to the foot pedal 24c'and' the heated bed-plate is moved upward and the goods are thus pressed over the edges of the die. \Vhen the pressing is completed the pressure is removed from the foot pedal 24, and the heated bed-plate under the die drops down.

-The infolders are removed from over the die by the spring 22, drawing downward the lever 17 as above described and the die-head is raised carrying with it the die'from the bed-plate. The goods having been pressed over the edges of the die are released from the die as hereinafter described.

The collar and cuff blanks to be folded and pressed are of irregular shape and the forms and sizes are changeable. In the drawings 1 have shown a die for folding a collar blank. The die is of the same shape and size as the collar; I makethe die blade of very thin spring steel, and preferably in three sections. J

The reference characters 31 and 32 Fig. 1. designate the three sections of the die blade. The central section 31 being stationary, the right hand section being movable during the operation of the machine and the left hand section 32 being adjustable longitudinally.

29 is the handle of the die-head and is hinged to the rear part of the machine as shown in Fig. 4. To the handle 29 I attach the bar 28 at right angles to the handle and extending over the bed-plate and at about the length of the collar blank. This bar 28 is fixedly attached to the handle 29 and supports the die, preferably by inter- 'mediate plates 33 34c and 35, the central plate 34 being rigidly attached to the bar 28. One of the side plates in this case 33, I attach slidably to the bar 28 and the other plate 35 adjustable so as to lengthen it out to suit the size of the collar or cuff.

36 is an arm hinged to the machine near the rear side thereof at a point nearer the center of the machine than the place where the handle 29 is hinged'and is shorter than the handle 29 as shown in Figs. 4:, 10 and 11.

37- is a wedge or cam attached to the end erases of the arm 36 and adapted to be inserted between'the plates 33 and 34, the plate being rigidly attached to bar 28 and the plate 33 being slidably-attached to the bar as before described. The cam 37 is adapted to slide the plate carrying the section 36 of the die blade lengthwise. The'cam 3'? is preferably of the form shown in Fig. 12 the narrow end remaining between the plates 33 and 34 when at-rest. The arm 36 being shorter than the handle 29, and being hinged to a point of the machine inside of the hinge to the handle 2) when the latter,

is at rest, carrying the die as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 10, the wide part of the cam 37 is withdrawn from between the plates 33 and 3%; and when the handle 29 is brought down so that the die rests upon the bed-plate, the cam 37 will be forced farther between the plates 33 and 34 so that the wide part of the cam 37 will force the plate 33 lengthwise and thus expand the die 'so that section 30 of the die will occupy the desired position upon the collar blank upon the bed-plate 23. i /hen the die-head is raised the shortarm 36 draws the cam 37 out from between the plates 33 and 3e and the spring 38 draws the plate 33 back'toward the plate 34 and withdraws the outer end of plate from the fold of the blank which has been pressed over that end ot the die so that the blank may be removed by the operator without disarranging the fold of the blank. The die blades may be so attached to the plates 33, 3e, and 35 that they may be readily removed and others substituted of the various sizes and shapes to form the style collar or cufi desired. The plate 35 adjustably attached to the plate 28 so as to be extended for length only.

Attached to a projection of the handle 29, back to the place where said handle is pivoted to the frame of the machine, is the rod 40 the lower end of which bears against the bottom of the spring- 4:1 as shown in L Fig. arranged and adjusted so that when the operator presses the die down upon the bedplate of the machine the rod 40 will co1npress the spring 4:1 and. when the operator releases the handle 29, the spring 4&1 will raise the die from the bedplate and hold it in a raised position as shown in Fig. 4E leaving the operator free to handle the goods.

51 53 55 and 56 are braces or fingers which are attached to substantial parts of the machine and extend over the infolders when the latter are folding the goods over the die so that when pressure is exerted on the foot-pedal 2% and bedplate 23 is pressed upward the braces will hold the infolders down and the goods may be thoroughly pressed with as muchforce as is desired between the infolders and the bed-plate of the machine overthe edges of the die.

There is no practical method of directly .der to have a good fold it is necessary that two parts, a hollow infolder are pressed over draws. from the fold of the goods and Therefore in orleaves the fold smooth and uniform in the bestpossible condition for stitching.

What I claim as m invention and desire to secure by Letters atent is,- v

1.- In a machine for folding collar and calf blanks, a heated bed-plate, a die adapted to press blanks upon said bed-plate, infolders adapted to move inwardly and fold the edges of the blanks over said die, each ofsaid infolders being chambered and formed in two parts separablyconnected together and an infolder plate attached to one of said parts, electric heating means within said chambersadapted to be supplied with current by electric wires from without, whereby the infolder plate of each infolder may be independently heated, means for moving said infolders. "to fold blanks over the die, and meansfor pressing the said blanks beheating the die. The goods a comparatively cold die.

the info'lders aswell as the bed-plate be thoroughly heated. The infolders move horizontally in the arc of a circle and it is impracticable and very difiicult to heat them ordinary means. To overcome this ditliculty and to thorohghly heat the infolder's I make them hollpw and beat them by elect'ricity.- The four infolde'rs are alike and are designated on the drawings by the reference number 42.- I make each infolder in bar'and a thin plate fastened on the under side of said bar. Each infoldef bar is made in two sections, as shown in Figs. 5-- 6 and 7 and has each section hollow on the end which moves over i the die, so that whenthe two sections are l placed together they form a hollow chamber in the portion of the infolder-bar that. goes over the die.- Into this chamber 1 place resistance coils or electric units which may be heated by electricity by wires from with--' out. The resistance coils may have the a proper number of turns for the required number of amperes, this being determine by the amountqot heat required to heat the ii'it'olders. The feed wires are long enough so as to not to interfere with the movements oi the iut'olders In this way the infolders may he keit sutlieiently hot for properly folding am. pressing the goods over the die and the movements of the int'olders do not interfere with the heating. Constructed in this manner the iufolders are always hot when they are moved inward to fold the edges of the goods over the die and make a l smooth and uniform told thereover. The die is so thin that it is somewhat heated by the bed-plates and the infolders operating from the opposite sides, the die remains within the fold until after the infolders are withdrawn and then as the die-head is raised and the-die contracts automatically and withplates. x y I 2. In a machine for folding collar and cuff blanks, a heated bed-plate, a die adapted to ress blanks upon said bed-plate, slidable nfolders' adapted to move inwardly and fold the edges of the blanks over the edges of said die, each of said infolders comprising an ,infolder bar and an infolder plate, said infolder bar being hollow and formed in two sections, each section protion for dividing the infolder bars into chambers when joined, said chambers adapted to contain means for heating the infolders, means for moving said infolders inwardly to fold blanks over the die, and meansfor pressing said,blanks between the heated bed-plate and the infolder-plates. In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. WALTER JOHN BEATTIE.

Witnesses:

WALTER E. Wane, V

FREDERICK W. CAMfiixoN.

tween the heated bed-plate and the foldervidcd with a peripheral flange, and a parti- 

